Just the way you are
by You-drive-me-nuts-miller
Summary: Jess is feeling insecure but Nick thinks she is perfect, just the way she is.


**Just a little drabble I wrote based on Nick's reaction when Jess asked how she looked in 'Nerd'... (Thanks once again to the fantastic Ztofan for the encouragement and help!).**

He felt her foot run slowly up and down his leg as he gradually came into consciousness. It was a lazy, familiar action that he had grown to anticipate – her way of saying time to wake up.

As he shifted in her bed he saw the room was sun soaked, with daylight blazing through her blue curtains. The brightness stung his eyes as he yawned and turned to face her. Nestling his head into the overstuffed pillow he snuck a glance. There she laid, all glossy chocolate waves and blue eyes peering back at him. His heart flipped a little, like it did every morning. But he didn't need to pinch himself – this was real.

"Mmmmmm," she moaned as her mouth stretched into a wide yawn, her pink lips forming a perfect 'O'. "What time is it?"

Drawing a deep breath he reached down to the floor and pulled his aging Motorola from the pair of jeans he had hastily let drop to the floor last night. "It is… Wow, 11am. I've never known you to sleep that long!"

She chuckled and slipped her hand into his hair, pulling him into a quick kiss, "I think you wore me out last night, mister." As he watched her smile across at him, he scanned her face. Her skin was pale and slightly pink, but it was only when you got really close that you noticed the little freckles that were scattered across her cheeks. The pale, watery marks spread in a bloom high upon each cheekbone, stubbornly clinging to her skin and defying the efforts of sunblock to stop their recurrence. They were a favorite feature of his, but she always disguised them with a layer of makeup and powder.

Reaching out, he ran his thumb across their path, "Why do you always cover these up?"

"My freckles?" He nodded. "I hate them, I always have. I remember as a kid trying to bleach them with lemon juice. For the record – it doesn't work." He laughed and cupped her face.

"Well I love them. They're cute." He leant forward and laid a soft, warm kiss upon each cheek then rested his forehead upon hers so their noses touched.

"You have to say that, you're my boyfriend." She stretched her neck, rubbing her cheek into his hand, "Well, we better get up. Remember, we have brunch with Anna in a couple of hours."

Ah yes. Anna. Jess's half-sister. The sister she had known nothing about until two months ago.

"Are you sure you still want to go? I mean we could just stay here…" he slid his hand up her thigh until he slipped a finger under the lace trim of her panties.

"Down boy!" she tutted, pushing him away playfully. "You know I need to make an effort to get to know her better. And I need you there for moral support."

Nick sighed and patted her leg reluctantly. The shock of finding out her dad had fathered an illegitimate child two years before she was born was nearly matched by the insecurity Jess felt around her older sister. In fact, maybe it exceeded it.

"And you know I'll be there. But more than that, you know you have nothing to worry about." He gave her an encouraging smile as she shifted across the bed and slipped on her robe.

"What would I do without you?" she asked as she tottered away to the bathroom.

* * *

It was almost 11:45 when Nick dragged himself out of bed and slunk to the bathroom. Jess had been gone for the better part of an hour and he needed to pee badly.

Pushing the door open, he saw her standing with a towel wrapped tightly around her body and another around her hair, staring intently at the mirror above the sink.

"What's taking so long Jess? I need to, you know-"

She spun around, her face fixed in a straight line, it's edges turned down. "I have a zit."

"What?" He closed the gap between them and examined her face. "I see nothing. You're imagining it."

"No – it's a zit. Look here on my chin. I can feel it pulsating and growing under the skin and then, bam, it's going to explode later today like some volcano that's lain dormant for thousands of years."

She turned back to face the mirror and began carefully peering at the tiny pink pinprick that marked the mysterious zit. "Hey, honey, calm down. There is nothing there." He came up behind her and kissed her shoulder before looking at her reflection in the mirror. "Relax, you know you are beautiful."

She tilted her head to rest it on the hand that he placed on her shoulder. "Urgh. Okay. I'll try." Turning around she circled his waist with her arms. "Okay, you need a shower, you're smelling a little, um, stale."

"Gee, you say the nicest things."

"I try," she replied with a sweet smile, gently tapping him on his butt as she slipped out of the room.

* * *

After drenching himself with Schmidt's shower gelato and a liberal spray of deodorant, Nick returned to his room to slip on the clean pair of slacks and the ironed shirt he had prepared yesterday. He hoped she would notice that he had made a little more effort than usual. He wanted her to know that she was important enough for him to make that effort.

Slipping across the hallway, he rapped on her door and stepped in when there was no reply. She was sitting at her dressing table, tugging on her hair with a pink hairbrush, alternately pushing her bangs over her eyes and sweeping them to one side. The room smelled of soft perfume and the alcohol tang of hairspray hung in the air.

"What do you think?" she asked as she stared at her reflection.

He moved to sit on the bottom edge of her bed, "I think whatever you think works, works."

"Nick," she warned, twisting around to face him, "You are not being helpful right now."

Her eyes glowed as she looked at him. He could see she had already applied a hint of make up to her face, a swirl of blush across her cheeks and tawny shadow on her eyes. A little part of his heart swelled when he saw the hint of freckles peeking through the powder.

"I want-" she began, "No, I need to be perfect today. I'm so intimidated by Anna…"

As her voice trailed off his heart stung with the pain of her words and the look of fear on her face. He had underestimated her insecurity.

"She's just so – you know?" Nick shook his head as he smiled. "I mean, she's so put together and glamorous and grown up…"

Slumping, she let her face fall into her hands as her voice trailed off. After a few seconds, she lifted her eyes and caught Nick's gaze.

A lump caught in his throat as a quiet moment went by. How could she ever think she was anything but amazing? Never had he met someone like her. She seemed to be from another world sometimes – such was her power over him. Just the way she looked at him caused his breathing to hitch in his chest every time. It was like she had this magical effect. She made him feel like he was the only guy in the world.

Smiling, he walked over to her, took her face in his hands and kissed her, gently at first but then more feverent – he needed her to know. To understand.

He slunk to his knees, so they were almost eye to eye, his hands resting on the curve of her waist.

"Jess, you have nothing to worry about," she leant forward and interlaced her fingers behind his neck. His hands moved to the hem of her blue silk dress he began to rub the material between his fingers. "This is nice."

"No, it's all wrong… Urgh, I feel so dumb and stupid and childish and-"

"Hey," he said, catching her face with his hand, "What's brought this on?"

She stood and walked over to her closet, sliding open the iron door and staring at the selection of dresses inside. "I know I hide it well, but really Nick I'm my own worst critic. Half of me is like 'be your own person, have fun, dress up' and then it's like the devil on my other shoulder screams, 'stop being a child, grow up'".

He sighed as he watched her search frantically through her closet. Didn't she realize how wonderful she was? Clearly not.

Silently, he slipped past her and reached into the closet pulling out a red wool dress with a thick black waistband. "Here, wear this," he smiled.

She took the dress from him and held it against herself, turning to look at her reflection in the full length mirror by her door.

"Are you sure?" she asked, uncertainly.

Sauntering up behind her, he stood watching her in the mirror. "Yes, I'm sure. I'm sure that you're the most gorgeous woman I have ever met. I'm sure that _anything_ you could wear would be head and shoulders above any other woman out there. But more than that," he slipped his hand to her waist and turned her so she faced him, "You are an amazing woman. Inside and out." He grasped her hands and slid his thumbs gently along her palms, "And this was the dress you wore last Thanksgiving. And you looked gorgeous."

She gave him a twisted smile, "How can you remem-"

"I'm more observant that you'd think, Jess."

She looked at him coyly before pulling down the zipper on her silk dress and slipping on the red one.

"Perfect," he whispered in her ear. "But you know you always are to me."

"Nick…" she sighed, leaning back into him. "I'm not perfect." She chuckled, "Far from it."

He dug his hands into her hair and tugged her face up to meet his, "What is perfect? I think that's a huge aspiration Jess." He leant down and kissed her forehead. "Actually, that's the wrong word. Perfect is overrated. I think you are imperfectly perfect. You're weird. You have huge eyes. You drink way too much tea." She smiled and tucked a hand into the waistband of his jeans, "But above all I think you are amazing. Just amazing. And no matter what you do, you will never change what I think."

Hugging him close, she let her face sink into the soft material of his shirt. "You're too sweet to me, Miller."

Laying a heavy kiss on her cheek he laughed, "I don't think that is possible."

She took a deep breath before looking back up at him, "Hey, you look great by the way. Did you iron your shirt?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yup."

Reaching up she gave him a small kiss, "You know Miller? You're pretty amazing yourself."

Hugging her close, he enveloped her in his arms, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world.


End file.
